Stocks @ Night is a daily newsletter delivered after hours, giving you a first look at tomorrow and last look at today. Sign up for free to receive it directly in your inbox. Here’s what CNBC TV’s producers were watching as the S & P 500 closed at a fresh record, and what’s on the radar for the next session. Record highs for S & P 500 The S & P 500 set its first record close of the year, closing above 6,100 for the first time. It also notched an intraday record for the second day in a row. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 408 points and is now 1.1% from its intraday record. The Nasdaq Composite also finished in the green, less than 1% from a record. .SPX 1Y mountain The S & P 500 over the past year Industrial gains GE Aerospace jumped more than 6% after it beat earnings and revenue estimates for the latest quarter. It was the second-best performing stock in the S & P 500. Shares are now up 20% this year and trading at levels not seen since October 2007. Caterpillar , which reports next week, was up 2.2% Thursday and is up 12% this year. Deere reports on Feb. 13. It was up 3.3% Thursday, trading at record highs. American Express earnings The credit card giant reports Q4 earnings before the bell on Friday. American Express shares are up over 20% in the last three months, far outperforming the broader banking sector. The SPDR S & P Bank ETF (KBE) is up 6% in three months, while the SPDR S & P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) is up more than 7%. Visa is up 15% in three months. Mastercard is up nearly 4% in three months. AXP 3M mountain American Express shares in the past three months Existing home sales The December housing data is expected to show sales ticked up by about a percent to 4.2 million homes from 4.15 million in November. Homebuilders have gotten off to a strong start to the year with the SPDR S & P Homebuilders ETF (XHB) up more than 7% in January and the iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) up more than 6%. Toll Brothers is up 8.5% in 2025. PulteGroup is up 7% this year. Housing-related stocks are also seeing strength. Home Depot and Lowe’s are both up about 6% this year, while Williams-Sonoma is up 14% and RH is up over 10%. LNG IPO Venture Global is expected to start trading on the NYSE Friday. It will be listed under the ticker “VG.” The LNG exporter on Wednesday slashed its expected price range to $23-$27 a share from $40-$46 a share. At the top end of that range, the company would be valued at $65 billion, down from the original $110 billion. CNBC’s Bob Pisani will be covering the first trades in the stock Friday morning. Moderna rebound Shares of the long-struggling vaccine maker were up for a fourth day in a row. Moderna ‘s 10% gain made it the top performer in the S & P Thursday. Shares are up more than 32% from their 52-week low hit last Monday. But they’re still down 75% from a 52-week high hit in May. Last week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it would invest $590 million in the company to develop a bird flu vaccine. It also got a bump Tuesday when Oracle executive chair Larry Ellison touted the potential for artificial intelligence in cancer vaccines. And on Thursday, CNBC’s Angelica Peebles reported on MRNA’s efforts to develop a norovirus vaccine . MRNA 1Y line Moderna shares over the past year Game over Shares of Electronic Arts plunged nearly 17% for their worst day since 2008. The video game maker slashed guidance for the holiday quarter, saying weak demand for its soccer titles would cause bookings to fall short of expectations. EA is down 19% this year and hit its lowest level since March 2023. Shares of Take-Two were down 2.2% and are now just negative on the year. Roblox was up 1.7% Thursday and is up 16% this year. Activision-Blizzard owner Microsoft was up 0.1% Thursday, but it’s up nearly 6% this year. And here are some great flags from CNBC market watcher Nick Wells. The OpenAI blessing: OpenAI introduced its Operator web agent and a number of collaborations with companies like eBay , DoorDash , Instacart , Booking Holdings ‘ Priceline, Etsy and Uber , among others. Many of these stocks popped on the news. BKNG EBAY,DASH,CART 5D mountain Booking Holdings, eBay, DoorDash and Instacart over the past five days Lots of financials hitting highs this week. JPMorgan Chase shares hit another all-time high, as did Wells Fargo , Capital One , Goldman Sachs , American Express , Discover Financial and Synchrony Financial . Citi hit its highest level since Jan. 14, 2020. KKR hit a fresh all-time high, surpassing its prior high from Nov. 29, 2024. More than 80% of S & P Financial firms are above their 200-day moving averages, the highest portion of any sector. Coal stocks spiked on President Donald Trump’s comments at Davos… then they came back down to Earth. Alliance Resource Partners, L.P . posting its biggest gain since June 2024. ARLP hit its highest level since June 2015. Peabody Energy , Warrior Met Coal and Core Natural Resources all spiked higher on Trump’s appearance, but they closed off those levels.
